Bio

Brian Atkinson – Professional Biography

Brian Atkinson has worked as a professional photographer for the past 25 years. In that time he has traveled to some 70 countries.

For Canada’s Equinox magazine he covered stories ranging from refugee returns in Guatemala to the emergence of Eritrea as an independent country. On assignment for Canadian Geographic he has photographed the seal hunt in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the fishery in the Bay of Fundy, the French shore in Nova Scotia, the wilderness coast of New Brunswick’s Fundy Trail, New Denmark, migrant workers in Quebec and a pond hockey tournament with over 120 teams and minus 20 degrees temperatures. Last year Brian circumnavigated Newfoundland with Adventure Canada for Canadian Geographic.

During the Kosovo conflict, Brian was contracted to CARE International and illustrated an in depth piece on the war for The Ottawa Citizen. CARE International has also used Brian to document their projects in Madagascar, Mozambique, Lesotho, South Africa, Guatemala and Nicaragua. Other agencies have sent Brian as far a field as North Korea, India, Cambodia and Cameroon. For the past two years Brian has worked with CUSO International in Latin America, Asia and Africa.

In Ethiopia, Brian worked with Medecins Sans Frontieres at a Sudanese refugee camp and in 2004 went to Haiti for MSF. In Central America he photographed various aid projects for Oxfam, CIDA, The Canadian Auto Workers and several churches. Other aid work has seen Brian travel to India and North Korea. Men’s Journal called on Brian to make a five-day hike into “La Ciudad Perdida,” The Lost City, in northern Colombia.

Brian has shot stills for various film productions and for twenty-years has been one of the principal photographers shooting ad campaigns for the New Brunswick government’s tourism spots.

Brian has five photography books out: “Fredericton,” “Fantastic New Brunswick,” “Miramichi: River of Character,” “Sustaining the Gaze: When Images Tremble” and “New Brunswick’s Covered Bridges.” His last exhibition “Not in My Backyard” focused on a small mining town in Honduras.

For Brian, photography is about people: the chance to live, learn and work with people all over the world, and to help them voice their story.